Redefine
by greatest-change
Summary: For a long time, Sasuke had been alone on Christmas. This year is different because he's with someone that also knows that kind of pain and wants to erase it for the both of them.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or its characters.**

It was an early December in Charlotte, and the bitter cold drifted through the frosted windows of the apartment. Sasuke awoke to not only that, but also the sound of his loud and very hyperactive boyfriend shaking him and calling out his name.

"Sasuke! Sasuke! Are you awake?" Naruto asked.

"No," he replied and then proceeded to take the nearest pillow and place it over his head.

"Haha. Very funny, bastard."

When Sasuke didn't respond, Naruto took that as an opportunity to roll him over on his back. The feeling of smooth skin rubbing up against his side was enough for Sasuke to open his eyes completely and look over at his partner, whom of which had decided to rejoin him under the sheets.

They were both very much naked from the previous night, although Naruto seemed to have been awake for a while now. Sasuke took that moment as an opportunity to appreciate the other's tanned skin and muscular frame. He was lying on his side with his elbow propping him up, smiling down at Sasuke. His bottom half was covered by the sheets, but that didn't keep Sasuke from feeling the morning wood that was digging into his left thigh.

"If you wanted to go for another round, you should have just said so from the beginning. We're not kissing, though."

Naruto laughed. "While that is very tempting, it's actually not what I had in mind. We're decorating the living room today, remember? I kept telling you about it last night. Ya know, before you tried to distract me with your sexual prowess."

Sasuke inwardly cursed. He never thought that he'd be found out.

"Annnyway," Naruto drawled, "I've already made breakfast. It isn't anything grand, but it was made with love." He leaned down and gave Sasuke a kiss on the cheek and then nibbled his way over to the left side of his face and towards his ear, breathing hotly. "If you're good today then I'll let you tie me up with some ribbons and you can have your wicked way with me."

Sasuke smirked. "What about you decorated in ribbons and tied to the bedpost?" He reached over and maneuvered a hand underneath the sheet to squeeze at the flesh of his boyfriend's plump and tanned ass.

"Mm. Whatever you want," Naruto eventually said. But when Sasuke moved his hand around to grab at Naruto's front, he felt the other move away.

"I'm not falling for it. No matter how devilishly sexy you are," Naruto sung and then got up from the bed. He laughed again when he saw just how hard Sasuke was from under the sheets.

"You are such a fucking cock-tease," Sasuke groaned and sunk as deep as he could get into the bed.

"Yes, I am," Naruto said as he walked over to their closet. "But would you _really_ have me any other way?"

* * *

><p>Breakfast went smoothly, and the two men ate their pancakes and sipped on hot chocolate. They were now standing in their living room, surrounded by ornaments, lights, and other miscellaneous decorations. Sasuke felt a twitch in his cheek.<p>

"Okay, should we start with the tree first and then the room, or the room first and then the tree?" Naruto asked, while pushing the sleeves of his red, long-sleeved shirt up his elbows. The black lounge pants that he wore shaped his backside perfectly well, much to Sasuke's pleasure. As for himself, he wore a simple black t-shirt and a pair of grey sweatpants.

"Neither," he replied and folded his arms across his chest.

"We'll do the latter," Naruto said, completely ignoring Sasuke's snide comment. He walked over to the couch, where all of the different colored lights were, and began to untangle them. Sasuke stood there awkwardly and looked around the room.

They had only recently moved into their apartment together. It was nice and big enough for the both of them. In the living room they had a fireplace and over top of that they had a flat screen television. Normally their sofa would have been right in front of it with their table, but Naruto had pushed it back in order to make room for all of the Christmas decorations that he recently bought. Sasuke grimaced when he saw the two stockings on the ground. Apparently Naruto had already written their names on them.

Christmas wasn't exactly something that Sasuke really liked to celebrate. When he was younger his mother died around the same time that the holidays were coming around. It indefinitely made Christmas a very bitter holiday for his family. His father, Fugaku, was never the same after that and became more invested in his work than his own children. While Sasuke did have his brother to take care of him well until he was out of high school, Itachi was now travelling across the world as a dealer for their father's retail company. Sasuke only saw him every couple of months.

Now he was twenty-four years old and living with his boyfriend of almost one year, and they were celebrating their very first Christmas together.

Naruto was unlike anyone Sasuke had met before. He was an orphan and never really had a normal childhood, but he didn't let that hold him back from becoming the man he was today. He'd been raised in Pennsylvania through a group home and attended school. When he graduated he started working in a car shop for a few years and eventually made enough money to move to North Carolina, where he opened up a very successful mechanics shop in the city. It was there that he and Sasuke ended up meeting.

"Uh, are you just going to stand there, or are you gonna help?" Naruto asked, breaking Sasuke out of his current train of thought. He slowly walked over and grabbed a handful of lights to untangle them.

When they were done with that, Naruto checked to see if all of the lights were in working order. He plugged the cord in and smiled when the different colors of the lights illuminated the room. "Very nice," he murmured to himself.

They hung the lights over the fireplace and around the doorway, and then, finally, the tree. With the lights out of the way, Sasuke finally sat down on the couch and took a break. Naruto had moved on to opening up the set ornaments that he had just recently bought. Once they were free from their containments and settled on the marble table in front of him, Naruto got up and walked over to the couch.

"Phew!" He said, wiping imaginary sweat off of his brow. "This is fun. Don't you think, Sasuke?"

"It's alright."

At that, Naruto frowned. "What's wrong? I mean, I know that you didn't really want to decorate or anything, but I didn't think that you'd be this unhappy about it." When Sasuke didn't look at Naruto, he felt his boyfriend's hand cup the side of his face. He willingly turned to his lover and sighed when he saw the worried look in Naruto's eyes.

"I keep thinking about my family," he admitted. "It's been a long time since I've done anything like _this,_" he pointed towards the tree and decorations. "My mother was usually the one to keep us high in spirit for Christmas, but when she died, so did everything else: the traditions, the playful memories, all of it. I guess it's just kind of…_difficult_…for me to look at now and try to find normalcy in."

Naruto sat there quietly as he spoke, and then nodded. He trailed his hand down from Sasuke face to the collar of his shirt. "I understand," he said after another moment of silence. "I'm so sorry for pushing this on you. I didn't even think about how triggering this all was for you. You have to know that it wasn't my intention at all."

Sasuke opened his mouth to say something, but Naruto quickly shook his head, silently telling Sasuke that he wasn't finished yet.

"I just…_want_ us to have a nice, first Christmas together and do all of these things that I know we both haven't done in years. Before you, the only people I really had to celebrate Christmas with were the kids at my group home, but it's been so long since I've seen them. For the past few years since I've moved here, I would usually be fixing cars during this time of the season in order to keep the thoughts of being alone for Christmas out of my mind. But now, I don't have to do that anymore. And I know that this time of the year is just as hard for you as it is for me, but I hope you know that you're not alone anymore. You have me, just like I have you, right?"

When Naruto was finished, Sasuke brought his own hand up to cover the tan one that lay over his heart.

He felt like a prick. Naruto had told him before about how lonely his Christmas's had been throughout the years, and to have it be reiterated made Sasuke angry with himself. How could he not want the same thing? To be happy for once, instead of drowning in his own self-pity.

"I'm sorry," he apologized and brought their hands up to brush his lips against Naruto's knuckles. "I didn't mean to make this all about me. You have painful memories as well, but you've been trying so hard to make this the best Christmas for the both of us, and I'm ruining it." He gave the knuckles in his hand another kiss. "I don't deserve you."

"Don't say that!" Naruto shoved him lightly in the shoulder with his other hand. "And don't apologize either! I get it, Sasuke. I _really_ do. I hope you don't think that I was just trying to guilt trip you with that speech, because I really wasn't—"

Sasuke interrupted the rest of Naruto's sentence off with a kiss. At first Naruto tried to push him away—obviously not pleased with being cut off—but eventually he gave in and reciprocated the gesture. Their lips brushed over each other's slowly, and then Sasuke flicked his tongue at Naruto's bottom lip. When Naruto opened his mouth, Sasuke dove in and then brought the hand that wasn't still holding Naruto's forward to rub at the other's side. He felt Naruto turn into him, and then suddenly he was being pushed back onto the couch. Naruto fell in between his legs and threaded his fingers into Sasuke's hair. He opened both of their mouths even wider and pushed his tongue into Sasuke's, dominating the kiss.

They stayed that way for a few minutes, pausing to take short breaths before diving right back in for more. Eventually they pulled apart, and then Naruto laid his head down on Sasuke's shoulder and tried to catch his breath. Sasuke rubbed circles along his boyfriend's back.

"I love you, Sasuke," Naruto said softly.

"Hn."

Naruto pinched him in the side. "Bastard. Say it back."

Sasuke sighed and ran his fingers up and down Naruto's spine. He noticed the slightest shudder come from the other man.

"I love you, too."

Naruto's smile seeped into his shoulder, and then suddenly the blond-haired mechanic sat up and pulled Sasuke along with him. "How about we go upstairs and you can prove that undying love for me with this?" Naruto reached into one of pockets of his lounge pants and took out a long, red ribbon. He dangled it in front of Sasuke's face. "I do recall saying that I'd reward you with this if you were good."

"I've hardly been good. And that little thing would barely even be enough to hold your wrists together."

"Don't worry. This is just a slight tease to what I actually bought at the store when I went shopping the other day." Naruto wiggled his eyebrows.

"You always know how to surprise me."

"Yup. Now come on and let me show you what I'm talking about."

When Naruto tried to get up, Sasuke pulled him back down on the couch.

"What's up?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke didn't look at him. Instead, he looked over at the marble table with the scattered ornaments that lay on top of it.

"Can we…finish this first?" Sasuke asked, in a rather shy voice. His head finally turned back to face Naruto.

His boyfriend blinked, but then a blinding smile appeared on his tanned, marked face.

"Of course we can," Naruto said.

For the next two hours they decorated the Christmas tree, sharing laughs and exchanging old Christmas stories. Sasuke opened up about the past holiday traditions he shared with his family, while Naruto told him about the Christmas's he spent in his group home. Occasionally they would share long and deep kisses that left Sasuke's head spinning, and then they'd return back to their previous actions.

Before Sasuke knew it, they were decorating the entire living room. Eventually, Naruto played Christmas songs from his phone and started singing—much to Sasuke's dread.

It had started out as a chore, but as time flew by, decorating the room with Naruto turned out to be something that Sasuke wouldn't have minded doing the next year, and the year after that, or the year after that.

_Forever_, he determined.

And it definitely wouldn't be so bad if at the end of the day, he got to have a certain blond tied up in ribbons on his bed every year.

**Author's Note: **I'm kind of liking this AU a lot, so I may end up writing a multi-chapter or at least a long one-shot related to this universe. Thanks for reading!


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